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President William Ruto on Sunday, December 29, 2024, joined world leaders in paying tribute to victims of the Jeju air crash whose death toll has risen to 179.

In a statement, Ruto extended his sympathies to the affected families and to the people of South Korea.

“We are devastated by the Jeju Air accident that has claimed more than 170 lives. Our thoughts are with the victims’ families and the people of South Korea at this sorrowful time,” Ruto said.

The Boeing plane crashed on Sunday, December 29, 2024, at 9:03 am local time in South Korea’s Muan Airport after it attempted to land on its belly.

Cause of accident

Preliminary reports pointed at a possibility of birds affecting the deployment of the landing gear of the passenger plane which was arriving into the country from Bangkok, Thailand.

Thailand confirmed that two of its citizens were on the ill-fated plane and expressed sympathies to South Korean nationals who were affected by the crash.

The plane which had 181 people on board crashed after hitting a concrete fence at the tail-end of a runway in the airport, killing 179 passengers and crew on board.

Two survivors were rescued from the wreck after firefighters managed to put out a fireball which had engulfed the plane upon impact with the wall.

The two survivors’ conditions remain unknown, while reports indicate that among the dead, 84 were male passengers while 85 were female.

The genders of 10 other passengers remain unknown while 65 people have been positively identified by the South Korean government.

7-Day-Mourning

Following the tragic incident, the South Korean acting president Choi-Sang-Mok has declared a seven-day national mourning period for the victims.

Mok stated that 17 mourning alters would be set up in different areas throughout the Asian country even as it goes through political turmoil.

On Friday, December 27, 2024, South Korea voted to remove from office Prime Minister and acting president Hang-Duck-Soo.

This came after the country’s president Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office after he declared martial law.

The crash became one of the worst incidents in South Korean aviation history since 1997 when a passenger plane crashed killing 228 passengers and crew on board.

Another incident involved 129 people losing their lives in 2002 when a passenger plane crashed on the side of a mountain while attempting to land in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province.